The Curse of the Werewolf
1 May 1961 June 7, 1961 | runtime = 91 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = }} The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) is a British film based on the novel The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore.* The film was made by the British film studio Hammer Film Productions and was shot at Bray Studios. Plot The story is set in 18th Century Spain. A beggar is imprisoned by a cruel marques after making inappropriate comments at the nobleman's wedding. The beggar is forgotten but manages to survive another fifteen years. His only human contact is with the jailer and his beautiful mute daughter (Yvonne Romain). The aging, decrepit Marques makes advances on the jailer's daughter when she is cleaning his room. When she refuses him, the Marques has her thrown into the dungeon with the beggar. The beggar, driven mad by his long confinement, rapes her and then dies. The girl is released the next day and sent back up to "entertain" the Marques. Instead she kills the old man and flees. She is found in the forest by the kindly gentleman-scholar Don Alfredo Corledo (Clifford Evans) who lives alone with his housekeeper, Teresa (Hira Talfrey). The warm and motherly Teresa soon nurses the girl back to health, but she dies after giving birth to a baby on Christmas day (a fact that Teresa considers "unlucky." since the child was born out of wedlock) Alfredo and Teresa raise the young boy, whom they name Leon. Leon is cursed both by the evil circumstances of his birth and by being born on Christmas Day. An early hunting incident gives him a taste for blood which he must struggle to overcome. Leon grows into a young man (Oliver Reed) and leaves home to seek work at the Gomez vineyard. Don Fernando Gomez(Ewen Solon) sets Leon to work in the wine cellar with Jose Amadayo (Martin Matthews) with whom he quickly forms a friendship. Leon soon falls in love with Fernando's daughter, Cristina (Catherine Feller), but when he is arrested and jailed on suspicion of murdering Jose, he grows increasingly violent. His wolf nature rising to the surface, he snarls and drools his way through the village by the light of the full moon. Shocked and disgusted by his appearance, the local people summon his scholarly step-father, who has been preparing himself for years to face this moment. Though torn with grief, the wise Alfredo shoots Leon dead and covers his body with a cloak. Cast * Clifford Evans as Don Alfredo Corledo * Oliver Reed as Leon Corledo * Yvonne Romain as Servant girl * Catherine Feller as Cristina * Anthony Dawson as Marques Siniestro * Josephine Llewelyn as Marquesa * Richard Wordsworth as Beggar * Hira Talfrey as Teresa * John Gabriel as The priest * Warren Mitchell as Pepe Valiente * Anne Blake as Rosa Valiente * George Woodbridge as Dominique the goat herder * Michael Ripper as Old Soak * Ewen Solon as Don Fernando * Peter Sallis as Don Enrique * Denis Shaw as Gaoler * Charles Lamb as Marques' Chef * Desmond Llewelyn (uncredited) as Marques’s servant Home video release In North America, the film was released on September 6, 2005 along with seven other Hammer horror films on the 4-DVD set The Hammer Horror Series (ASIN: B0009X770O), which is part of MCA-Universal's Franchise Collection. In other media The film was adapted into a 15-page comic strip for the January 1978 issue of the magazine The House of Hammer (volume 1, # 10, published by General Book Distribution). It was drawn by John Bolton from a script by Steve Moore. The cover of the issue featured a painting by Brian Lewis of Leon in both human and werewolf forms. References External links * * * *Britmovie Category:English-language films Category:Films shot in Technicolor Category:1961 films Category:British films Category:1960s horror films Category:Werewolves in film Category:Films directed by Terence Fisher Category:Films based on horror novels Category:Hammer Film Productions horror films Category:1961 Category:Film